#Trump Daughter Ignored

[suzannahnatters]

all RIGHT:

Why You're Writing Medieval (and Medieval-Coded) Women Wrong: A RANT

(Or, For the Love of God, People, Stop Pretending Victorian Style Gender Roles Applied to All of History)

This is a problem I see alllll over the place - I'll be reading a medieval-coded book and the women will be told they aren't allowed to fight or learn or work, that they are only supposed to get married, keep house and have babies, &c &c.

If I point this out ppl will be like "yes but there was misogyny back then! women were treated terribly!" and OK. Stop right there.

By & large, what we as a culture think of as misogyny & patriarchy is the expression prevalent in Victorian times - not medieval. (And NO, this is not me blaming Victorians for their theme park version of "medieval history". This is me blaming 21st century people for being ignorant & refusing to do their homework).

Yes, there was misogyny in medieval times, but 1) in many ways it was actually markedly less severe than Victorian misogyny, tyvm - and 2) it was of a quite different type. (Disclaimer: I am speaking specifically of Frankish, Western European medieval women rather than those in other parts of the world. This applies to a lesser extent in Byzantium and I am still learning about women in the medieval Islamic world.)

So, here are the 2 vital things to remember about women when writing medieval or medieval-coded societies

FIRST. Where in Victorian times the primary axes of prejudice were gender and race - so that a male labourer had more rights than a female of the higher classes, and a middle class white man would be treated with more respect than an African or Indian dignitary - In medieval times, the primary axis of prejudice was, overwhelmingly, class. Thus, Frankish crusader knights arguably felt more solidarity with their Muslim opponents of knightly status, than they did their own peasants. Faith and age were also medieval axes of prejudice - children and young people were exploited ruthlessly, sent into war or marriage at 15 (boys) or 12 (girls). Gender was less important.

What this meant was that a medieval woman could expect - indeed demand - to be treated more or less the same way the men of her class were. Where no ancient legal obstacle existed, such as Salic law, a king's daughter could and did expect to rule, even after marriage.

Women of the knightly class could & did arm & fight - something that required a MASSIVE outlay of money, which was obviously at their discretion & disposal. See: Sichelgaita, Isabel de Conches, the unnamed women fighting in armour as knights during the Third Crusade, as recorded by Muslim chroniclers.

Tolkien's Eowyn is a great example of this medieval attitude to class trumping race: complaining that she's being told not to fight, she stresses her class: "I am of the house of Eorl & not a serving woman". She claims her rights, not as a woman, but as a member of the warrior class and the ruling family. Similarly in Renaissance Venice a doge protested the practice which saw 80% of noble women locked into convents for life: if these had been men they would have been "born to command & govern the world". Their class ought to have exempted them from discrimination on the basis of sex.

So, tip #1 for writing medieval women: remember that their class always outweighed their gender. They might be subordinate to the men within their own class, but not to those below.

SECOND. Whereas Victorians saw women's highest calling as marriage & children - the "angel in the house" ennobling & improving their men on a spiritual but rarely practical level - Medievals by contrast prized virginity/celibacy above marriage, seeing it as a way for women to transcend their sex. Often as nuns, saints, mystics; sometimes as warriors, queens, & ladies; always as businesswomen & merchants, women could & did forge their own paths in life

When Elizabeth I claimed to have "the heart & stomach of a king" & adopted the persona of the virgin queen, this was the norm she appealed to. Women could do things; they just had to prove they were Not Like Other Girls. By Elizabeth's time things were already changing: it was the Reformation that switched the ideal to marriage, & the Enlightenment that divorced femininity from reason, aggression & public life.

For more on this topic, read Katherine Hager's article "Endowed With Manly Courage: Medieval Perceptions of Women in Combat" on women who transcended gender to occupy a liminal space as warrior/virgin/saint.

So, tip #2: remember that for medieval women, wife and mother wasn't the ideal, virgin saint was the ideal. By proving yourself "not like other girls" you could gain significant autonomy & freedom.

Finally a bonus tip: if writing about medieval women, be sure to read writing on women's issues from the time so as to understand the terms in which these women spoke about & defended their ambitions. Start with Christine de Pisan.

I learned all this doing the reading for WATCHERS OF OUTREMER, my series of historical fantasy novels set in the medieval crusader states, which were dominated by strong medieval women! Book 5, THE HOUSE OF MOURNING (forthcoming 2023) will focus, to a greater extent than any other novel I've ever yet read or written, on the experience of women during the crusades - as warriors, captives, and political leaders. I can't wait to share it with you all!

#watchers of outremer #medieval history #the lady of kingdoms #the house of mourning #writing #writing fantasy #female characters #medieval women #eowyn #the lord of the rings #lotr #history #historical fiction #fantasy #writing tip #writing advice

[huevobuevo]

ive fuckingggg HAD IT . i am going to talk about gegg qsmp because idk why but charlie slimecicle made one of the best representations of age regression ive seen in media and i am NOT joking.

so i dont rlly post alot about the qsmp on my blog, thus i wouldn't be surprised if this post goes unnoticed or ignored by a vast majority of my friends & followers. for those of you who ARE reading this with no prior experience with the QSMP lemme just quickly summarize some much needed background knowledge.

(Quackity Voice) The QSMP Is The Worlds First Multi-lingual Minecraft Server; it hosts a wide variety of twitch streamers who speak English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. the beginning plotline of the server (which is where Gegg came into existence) follows the various players as they are grouped into pairs to care for a dragon egg. The main ones that will be talked about today are Tilin, Quackity's egg, and Juanaflippa, Slimecicle & ElMariana's egg. The eggs are, of course, played by anonymous admins, who have given these eggs their own unique personalitys despite only communicating through signs and emotes. The players have quickly imprinted on their respective eggs, as expected, and have gone on to view these eggs as their own children. The rules were simple - each egg had two lives and two lives ONLY. each day the eggs have tasks for the streamers to complete ON STREAM or else the egg could die of starvation & neglect (points at Trump, Maximus & DanTDM's egg).

i will be referring to Slimecicles character in the QSMP as Charlie or Slime for better coherency. from now on i will be referring to the characters, not the streamers.

Slimecicle and Mariana were not the best parents to Juanaflippa, but it was clear that they truly and deeply cared for their daughter. They supported her transition and, especially in Slimes case, did everything they could to make sure their daughter was safe. Juanaflippa had lost her second life due to an accident, which caused Slime to loose his shit and go on a murderous rampage to try and get the literal Minecraft Jesus Christ of Nazareth to come back and revive his daughter (she came back after a court case. long story.)

Basically Juanaflippa was loved, and she loved her parents back- but there was someone else she cared for the most in the whole wide world

Tilin, who Slime offered to take care of once her father had to log off game. There was another accident, and Tilin was caught in the crossfire between Charlie and a few mobs at night. She was on her second life, meaning that Charlie had officially ended his daughters best friend right infront of her eyes. Distraught and ashamed, Charlie ran off into self-isolation and left Juanaflippa in the care of Mariana and their friend Roier. During his "Eggxile" while he was trying to find a way to bring back Tilin, Charlie learnt that Mariana killed Juanaflippa AGAIN. Instead of going on another tirade Charlie just lost it.

He's now carrying the deaths of two children on his mind, isolating himself from what little friends he had on the main island. During his initial stay on the island there were only English and Spanish players, but when the French and Brazilian players arrived he still spent a majority of his time in isolation. Charlie wasn't apart of a good chunk of the main island lore for a long, long time, and pretty soon it began to feel like he was completely, and utterly, alone. He attended a wedding and a few parties, but it was visible how outcasted he was from all the new events and connections. He had regular breakdowns and pretty soon began to believe that Juanaflippa wasn't dead, she was just... somewhere else. He was gonna get her back. He did it once, he'll do it again. Fuck, he couldn't even bring himself to attend her own funeral, and even when he was allowed one final goodbye with his dead daughter Charlie still refused to accept the fact that Juanaflippa was never gonna come back home. He built a campfire on the beach of his Eggxile house with three chairs- one for him, one for his wife (who hadn't logged on in months), and one for Flippa.

TL;DR q!slime is going the fuck through it.

Later on Quackity decided to get Charlie in on a plan to try and steal from other peoples houses. They both lost their families, so it seemed only fair to Quackity that they ruin other people's lives as well. Basically Charlie had to pretend to be Quackity's NEW egg so that he can get close with the other eggs and fuck shit up.

Charlie liked it. Charlie... REALLY liked it, actually. His egg name was Gegg, and without knowing it he began to age regress.

Im calling Gegg a form of Age Regression because not only is Charlie mentally AND physically becoming a child, but through Gegg Charlie is allowed the freedom to escape his grief and explore what it means to be a "child" who was loved unconditionally. On the last Gegg stream Slime referred to the little goopy guy as something that lives inside of him. Gegg takes over him and he just looses himself in the act. He's not just playing a character called Gegg, he IS Gegg.

In the very first stream as Gegg he expressed his desire to learn what having a family was like- a common reason most people have for regressing. When "regressed" to this state Charlie/Gegg is constantly acting as a young child and actually enjoys it! He LOVED being Gegg! Even if it got too far in the end, Gegg was allowed to be open about his wants & emotions. Charlie was pushed back into the lives of the other players and fully reconnected with several people again for the first time since his self-imposed isolation. He gained new friends, too, once Gegg was introduced to the Brazilian and French players.

In turn the players never made any effort to expose Charlie's regression. while at the beginning there was some distrust & confusion over Charlie's sudden egg act it never went farther then a few subtle jokes at Geggs "true" identity (commenting on his backflips, which is something Charlie was known for). Aside from Wilbur, everybody treated Gegg as any other egg-child. He was cared for, his tasks would be completed on occasion, and the French+Brazilian players ESPECIALLY loved him! They supported Charlie's regression since at this point they began to realize how much shit he has been through since the deaths of Tilin and Flippa. Not only that, but the eggs as well played along with Gegg's coping mechanism; Leonarda (FoolishGamers + Vegetta777's egg) was one of the first to try and adopt Gegg as their own baby, while Chayanne (Philza+MissaSinfonia's egg) & Tallulah (Wilbur Soot's egg) acted as his "Geggsiblings" (even though Tallulah sorta got a bit rude to him during their second encounter, im guessing due to a new admin who wasn't around during Tallulah & Gegg's first interaction),

Infact, one of the best scenes of the Gegg Arc was during an interaction between Gegg & Bobby. Bobby was Roier & JaidenAnimation's egg, and he was also close to Juanaflippa & Tilin. The two kids talked through signs, where Bobby confessed that he held a grudge against Slime for what he did. Gegg said that he had every right to be upset, the poor boy had lost two of his closest friends after all. But then Bobby did something that shocked Charlie- he forgave him. he told Gegg to tell that "green guy" that he shouldn't be hard on himself anymore, both of them needed to move on already. Not only was Bobby a child, but he was one of the main eggs Quackity wanted Gegg to kill off first. Bobby was the reason why Gegg existed, the reason why Charlie was given the chance to heal from his trauma, and now he is telling Charlie to his face that its ok to forgive himself for the deaths of Tilin and Flippa.

Bobby knows who Gegg is, everybody does, which is why they treat Gegg with the same amount of love that every other egg gets.

Age Regression has frequently been misunderstood, and very rarely does it get the proper representation that it deserves. It is a very "taboo" form of coping, which is unfortunate due to how common it actually is. Most people feel uncomfortable with the image of grown adults acting as toddlers in diapers, and lump it together with the whole Age Play/DDLG ordeal- yet they fail to take into account what age regressors are ACTUALLY like. while it is something that just about anyone can do, the type of regression I will be talking about stems from people who seek refuge from traumatic events usually in their childhood. It can be voluntary or involuntary, and is a way for people to explore & reevaluate what it means to be a child. it is just that- a trauma response, one that im sure many of you participate in but are too scared to discuss it due to the stigma around it. Children who have experienced abuse regress, Teenagers who struggle with mental health regress, Adults with severe PTSD regress, and yet it is such a misunderstood part of the healing process that is practically unaccounted for in media. There is little to nothing on age regression representation that delivers it in a respectful, honest manner, due to this stigma, which only serves to push it further into the shadows of mental health discourse.

So to see age regression be used on a fucking minecraft server of all places in such a healthy light is so refreshing to see. While ironic at first, Charlie showcased age regression as something that shouldn't be shunned. It actively aided him through a dark period in his life and showed that he deserves a second chance. After Gegg canonically "died" Charlie returned to the island for his birthday and was finally ready to move on from Flippa & Tilins death (and then, yakno, the whole Codeflippa Arc happened)

TL;DR #2 Charlie Slimecicle's Character In The QSMP Age Regresses As A Way To Cope From The Deaths Of Two Eggs & Oh My God It Was Actually Really Fucking Emotional

#thanks for reading again hoooly fuck #slimecicle #q!slimecicle #charlie slimecicle #q!charlie #qsmp #gegg #qsmp gegg #gegg qsmp #qsmp slimecicle #qsmp charlie slimecicle #there will be a cold day in hell if i dont properly tag my fucking posts

[ystrike1]

My Husband Who Hates Me Has Lost His Memories - By L.C (7.5/10)

A beautiful puppet daughter. What is affection? Why is it always so painful for her? She was born to be a honey pot. A beautiful thing for men to want, and that left no room for her feelings. Love and fear become one for her. She has too many admirers. Most are not kind.

Lily.

Lily Everett.

She's so beautiful with her trademark white hair. Her father has secured her an ideal match. One above her station. He pushed his daughter into an excellent Ducal family. What a loving fa...

Lily Everett is adopted. She is a common girl. She was taken in by the Everetts to be used as a marriage bargaining chip. The Noble Everett house has two sons. Owen, the heir, has strong magic. The spare, Heissen, fulfills his role well too. The Everett family decided they didn't need more children. No, they have enough power. They decided to adopt a puppet. A daughter that would be easy to control, forever, even after she marries.

Lily Everett lives in constant fear. Both of the Everett brothers are obsessed with her. Why? Well, Lily is too good. She did her job well. She is a wife anyone would want, and her siblings know she is not their blood. She's so useful and pretty. So obedient and pretty. The perfect accessory.

Owen is the scary one. He knows he cannot have the lovely Lily Everett, but she is his. She is his agent. His servant, not his sister. He holds her life in his hands. She's marrying a Duke, sure, but status trumps all. All he has to do is release the truth. Oops. She's not an Everett. Then she's dead or in the streets or killed.

Her fiance, Theodore Valentino, Is a lofty man. His supporters will not stand for an impure wife.

Owen loves knowing that Lily Everett can never escape her common blood.

Heissen is even worse. He openly lusts over her, and he wants her to beg. He wants her to want to be saved, by him. He wants to play the part of Hero. He wants to keep her locked up in his property, to save her from the marriage she fears.

The issue is there is no fear.

Lily Everett is deeply depressed and she thinks of death often. She has no allies, and being raised as a pretty thing does shit to your brain.

Theodor Valentino will lose his memories.

Lily Everett does love him.

When he almost dies she realizes that she is capable of love, not just lies.

In the beginning its awkward though.

She marries him and she expects coldness.

Her father plotted and planned hard for their marriage. Theodor Valentino was supposed to marry a better woman.

She expects nothing.

He kisses her.

He wants her.

He thinks she doesn't want him.

He knows her father is a snake.

He says she can have the divorce she wants so much, when he manages to shake off her father's influence.

He leaves her alone on their wedding night, because if she's not excited he doesn't want to share a bed with her.

Lily Everett fails to notice how enthusiastic he is before she freezes up.

He assumes she hates him, and so their wedding night goes cold.

Charlotte the maid is the beacon of sanity. She tries to tell Lily Everett. Her husband does have feelings for her. He watches her. He asks for her opinion.

He's THERE.

He is a Duke and he could just ignore her but he doesn't.

Before he loses his memories its painful. She only ever sees his back or side. His allies do not like her for real.

When the accident happens he wakes up with no memories and he loves her.

He praises her.

He might be lying to her.

How will they get around all the lies?

Lily Everett isn't a lady.

Her brothers are snakes in her shadow. Sick admirers plague her.

Can the Duke get through to her heart with affection laced with more lies?

#My Husband Who Hates Me Has Lost His Memories #yandere #male yandere #yandere male #yandere boy #recommendations #recs #rec #recommended #webtoon

[thatsonemorbidcorvid]

“By simply existing as women in public life, we have all become targets, stripped of our accomplishments, our intellect, and our activism and reduced to sex objects for the pleasure of millions of anonymous eyes.

Men, of course, are subject to this abuse far less frequently. In reporting this article, I searched the name Donald Trump on one prominent deepfake-porn website and turned up one video of the former president—and three entire pages of videos depicting his wife, Melania, and daughter Ivanka. A 2019 study from Sensity, a company that monitors synthetic media, estimated that more than 96 percent of deepfakes then in existence were nonconsensual pornography of women.”

Recently, a Google Alert informed me that I am the subject of deepfake pornography. I wasn’t shocked. For more than a year, I have been the target of a widespread online harassment campaign, and deepfake porn—whose creators, using artificial intelligence, generate explicit video clips that seem to show real people in sexual situations that never actually occurred—has become a prized weapon in the arsenal misogynists use to try to drive women out of public life. The only emotion I felt as I informed my lawyers about the latest violation of my privacy was a profound disappointment in the technology—and in the lawmakers and regulators who have offered no justice to people who appear in porn clips without their consent. Many commentators have been tying themselves in knots over the potential threats posed by artificial intelligence—deepfake videos that tip elections or start wars, job-destroying deployments of ChatGPT and other generative technologies. Yet policy makers have all but ignored an urgent AI problem that is already affecting many lives, including mine.

Last year, I resigned as head of the Department of Homeland Security’s Disinformation Governance Board, a policy-coordination body that the Biden administration let founder amid criticism mostly from the right. In subsequent months, at least three artificially generated videos that appear to show me engaging in sex acts were uploaded to websites specializing in deepfake porn. The images don’t look much like me; the generative-AI models that spat them out seem to have been trained on my official U.S. government portrait, taken when I was six months pregnant. Whoever created the videos likely used a free “face swap” tool, essentially pasting my photo onto an existing porn video. In some moments, the original performer’s mouth is visible while the deepfake Frankenstein moves and my face flickers. But these videos aren’t meant to be convincing—all of the websites and the individual videos they host are clearly labeled as fakes. Although they may provide cheap thrills for the viewer, their deeper purpose is to humiliate, shame, and objectify women, especially women who have the temerity to speak out. I am somewhat inured to this abuse, after researching and writing about it for years. But for other women, especially those in more conservative or patriarchal environments, appearing in a deepfake-porn video could be profoundly stigmatizing, even career- or life-threatening.

As if to underscore video makers’ compulsion to punish women who speak out, one of the videos to which Google alerted me depicts me with Hillary Clinton and Greta Thunberg. Because of their global celebrity, deepfakes of the former presidential candidate and the climate-change activist are far more numerous and more graphic than those of me. Users can also easily find deepfake-porn videos of the singer Taylor Swift, the actress Emma Watson, and the former Fox News host Megyn Kelly; Democratic officials such as Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; the Republicans Nikki Haley and Elise Stefanik; and countless other prominent women. By simply existing as women in public life, we have all become targets, stripped of our accomplishments, our intellect, and our activism and reduced to sex objects for the pleasure of millions of anonymous eyes.

Men, of course, are subject to this abuse far less frequently. In reporting this article, I searched the name Donald Trump on one prominent deepfake-porn website and turned up one video of the former president—and three entire pages of videos depicting his wife, Melania, and daughter Ivanka. A 2019 study from Sensity, a company that monitors synthetic media, estimated that more than 96 percent of deepfakes then in existence were nonconsensual pornography of women. The reasons for this disproportion are interconnected, and are both technical and motivational: The people making these videos are presumably heterosexual men who value their own gratification more than they value women’s personhood. And because AI systems are trained on an internet that abounds with images of women’s bodies, much of the nonconsensual porn that those systems generate is more believable than, say, computer-generated clips of cute animals playing would be.

As I looked into the provenance of the videos in which I appear—I’m a disinformation researcher, after all—I stumbled upon deepfake-porn forums where users are remarkably nonchalant about the invasion of privacy they are perpetrating. Some seem to believe that they have a right to distribute these images—that because they fed a publicly available photo of a woman into an application engineered to make pornography, they have created art or a legitimate work of parody. Others apparently think that simply by labeling their videos and images as fake, they can avoid any legal consequences for their actions. These purveyors assert that their videos are for entertainment and educational purposes only. But by using that description for videos of well-known women being “humiliated” or “pounded”—as the titles of some clips put it—these men reveal a lot about what they find pleasurable and informative.

Ironically, some creators who post in deepfake forums show great concern for their own safety and privacy—in one forum thread that I found, a man is ridiculed for having signed up with a face-swapping app that does not protect user data—but insist that the women they depict do not have those same rights, because they have chosen public career paths. The most chilling page I found lists women who are turning 18 this year; they are removed on their birthdays from “blacklists” that deepfake-forum hosts maintain so they don’t run afoul of laws against child pornography.

Effective laws are exactly what the victims of deepfake porn need. Several states—including Virginia and California—have outlawed the distribution of deepfake porn. But for victims living outside these jurisdictions or seeking justice against perpetrators based elsewhere, these laws have little effect. In my own case, finding out who created these videos is probably not worth the time and money. I could attempt to subpoena platforms for information about the users who uploaded the videos, but even if the sites had those details and shared them with me, if my abusers live out of state—or in a different country—there is little I could do to bring them to justice.

Representative Joseph Morelle of New York is attempting to reduce this jurisdictional loophole by reintroducing the Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act, a proposed amendment to the 2022 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Morelle’s bill would impose a nationwide ban on the distribution of deepfakes without the explicit consent of the people depicted in the image or video. The measure would also provide victims with somewhat easier recourse when they find themselves unwittingly starring in nonconsensual porn.

In the absence of strong federal legislation, the avenues available to me to mitigate the harm caused by the deepfakes of me are not all that encouraging. I can request that Google delist the web addresses of the videos in its search results and—though the legal basis for any demand would be shaky—have my attorneys ask online platforms to take down the videos altogether. But even if those websites comply, the likelihood that the videos will crop up somewhere else is extremely high. Women targeted by deepfake porn are caught in an exhausting, expensive, endless game of whack-a-troll.

The Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act won’t solve the deepfake problem; the internet is forever, and deepfake technology is only becoming more ubiquitous and its output more convincing. Yet especially because AI grows more powerful by the month, adapting the law to an emergent category of misogynistic abuse is all the more essential to protect women’s privacy and safety. As policy makers worry whether AI will destroy the world, I beg them: Let’s first stop the men who are using it to discredit and humiliate women.

Nina Jankowicz is a disinformation expert and the author of How to Be a Woman Online and How to Lose the Information War.

[the-crimson]

Why does it feel like we in the q!bbh fandom are constantly defending q!bbh from people who hate his character for no reason.

I say no reason because a majority of the time people make things up whole sale to get mad about or take the smallest action completely out of context to get mad about it. There are legitimate things about q!bbh that I can see turning people off from his character but those things are almost never part of the discourse.

It’s always: q!bbh doesn’t care about the eggs, q!bbh is the most evil person on the island and should be killed repeatedly, he and Leo have no relationship and she would dislike him, Dapper’s deserves a father that actually cares for him, etc etc etc

It’s honestly exhausting because all of these things are blatantly untrue and I have no idea how anyone could come to these conclusions even if they never watch a second of bbh. Q!bbb is the sole reasons no egg has died of neglect since Trump. Q!bbh is the sole reason many of the eggs have maxed out armor, auto feed set up so they are always at max health, and an XP backpack with hundreds of XP. Q!bbh is constantly going out of his way to help others the moment they ask regardless of his own plans.

There is a REASON q!bbh is the only character on quesadilla island with access to every egg’s safe room in and out of the Ninho. Q!bbh is the only character on the server who has an actual relationship with every single egg that goes beyond acquaintances. Ramon is Dapper’s bff and constantly hangs out with bbh and Dapper. Bbh has done Leo’s tasks more times than I can count and her last words before being kidnapped were “I love you”. Bbh has taken care of Tallulah and Chayanne too many time to count. It was only after talking to bbh about how she feels guilty about feeling like Philza is more her father than Wilbur that Tallulah asked Philza to adopt her. Pomme is literally his daughter. Richas has spent countless nights hanging out with bbh and Dapper (and Pomme) after his parents logged off. Bbh would literally burn the world for Dapper in a heart beat.

When bbh learned no other egg made it off the island in purgatory, he spent the last 15 minutes of his stream muted because he was crying irl. Q!bbh was literally killing himself after the eggs were kidnapped and is basically a walking corpse rn with a gapping hole in his head that’s been there for two months. He’s been having memory problems for over a month - this development with his short term memory loss is a natural progression of his preexisting condition!

PEOPLE PLEASE criticize his character for things he actually does. You don’t have to like every character - q!bbh is an annoying little menace! But don’t make shit up to get mad about I’m begging.

If you don’t like a character, then ignore them. There are several character on the qsmp that I absolutely despise and get annoyed when every they show up on stream but I doubt anyone following me could tell me which characters those are because I never talk about it! Especially not in the main tag! I think through purgatory - when my frustration was at its highest - I mentioned one of these characters once in the tags of a reblog.

Tldr: if you don’t like a character, ignore them. Don’t make shit up about them to get mad at. You’re just making urself look like an idiot and an asshole.

#qsmp #discourse #fandom critical #I’m so tired of this fandom #I never even look in the main tag anymore #I havent for months #but I still can’t escape the shitty discourse #I’m so tired #somehow stealing furniture is a worse crime than systematically murdering innocent workers #I will never understand why people are so passionate about hating q!bbh

[thestrangestthing89]

There are thankfully only a handful of people who swear this is a conservative, Christian show but it's interesting to me considering how negatively the show depicts religion.

S1 - There aren't any direct references to religion but subtle hints. It's implied Hawkins is a typical middle class suburban neighborhood. It's 1983, Reagan was president, and there are hints of the towns Christianity through the bullies. When Will goes missing there are several comments that make it clear that the people in this town aren't surprised. The middle school bully makes a comment that he got "killed by some other queer" and says his father was talking about it. Parents in the town talk about Will being gay. We see Steve's friends - the high school bullies - also making homophobic comments about Jonathan and his brother. The bad guys are homophobic. They also all lose fights this season. The show takes an anti-bullying stance and you are supposed to feel for Will and his friends here. He's a child that's gone missing and the people in the town don't seem to care much or act surprised by it.

There are a few exceptions to this - Joyce mentions to Hopper that Lonnie called Will gay slurs because she is also worried he got killed because he's gay. Hopper takes this seriously during a time when absolutely no one would have criticized him for ignoring this situation. Plenty of people were ignoring gay people dying during this time. No one would have batted an eye at a cop acting like this didn't matter. But Hopper pays attention and puts together a search team. So there are a few people in town who do care - Scott Clarke being one of them. And obviously the rest of our main cast doesn't care what people say about Will because they help to look for him all season. The good guys aren't homophobic. The good guys care about Will. And this includes all of our main characters - the people the audience are supposed to root for go against homophobia and bullying.

(Edit: I forgot to include a conversation between Joyce and Lonnie. When Will's fake body is found Lonnie wants Joyce to see a pastor and Joyce says no. Lonnie is trying to convince her she is crazy. He's the bad guy, and the first thing he wants to do to "fix" the situation is to get Joyce to talk to a pastor. It's another negative association with religion. Joyce is right here. She isn't crazy. And Lonnie isn't being comforting when he says this. He's being controlling and dismissing her feelings. It's clear from what we see of Lonnie that he's an asshole. He abused Will and Jonathan (and likely Joyce as well), he tried to turn Jonathan against his mother when Will went missing, he exploited an opportunity for money. He's not a person we are supposed to be rooting for.)

S2 - This season has a more direct reference to Christianity and it's the Reagan signs on some of the front lawns in Hawkins. This isn't surprising considering again, it's a middle class suburb. Reagan was a popular president at the time and got elected by popular vote twice despite his mishandling of the AIDS crisis and a number of other issues. His name is synonymous with the Christian right. During his time in office, the pro-life movement started to take hold, and he cut back on welfare reform and disability rights to name a few of the problematic things he did. Basically, anyone who wasn't an able-bodied, straight, white, middle class Christian male was struggling and yet he won twice. These days, his name is often compared to Trumps - they openly hated the same groups of people.

This sets the stage in a subtle way for what's going on with the main characters. Because our characters are all outcasts - gay, black, disabled, poor, etc - they are struggling to fit in to mainstream society (which makes it so ironic this show is mainstream). Even Hopper who is your typical straight, white, leading man struggles to fit in - his daughter died and he is coping with depression and substance abuse issues. Things no one discussed openly at the time and were viewed as shameful.

So we have the Reagan sign on the Wheelers front lawn. This tells me that at least Ted is a Reagan supporter which makes sense given this is an upper middle class white family. I am skeptical of Karen (or anyone else in this family) being conservative but I will get to that in S3. Dustins house has a Mondale sign so they are democrats which makes sense - Dustin has a disability and his mother is a single parent. Reagans policies would have hurt them. We don't see the politics of the other boys families but I think it's a safe bet to assume they are democrats. Will's family is poor and his mother is also a single mother. Not to mention that there are hints both Joyce and Jonathan suspect he is gay and they love Will so much, there is no way they would have ever voted for someone like Reagan. And even though the Sinclair's are also an upper middle class family they are black and while no group of people votes in the exact same way, Reagans policies were incredibly racist. Lucas mentions struggles to fit into Hawkins because he's black in the book Lucas on the Line. His family wouldn't have fit into this town even though they are financially well off. It's a mostly white town and that would have absolutely resulted in them being on the receiving end of racism on a regular basis. So even though their family technically conforms, people would not have accepted them.

So we know that our main characters don't fit in and we know Reagan represents all things Christianity and conformity. One of the main themes of the show is "forced conformity is killing the kids" a line directly stated by Eddie in S3 so more on this in a bit.

Something else happens this season that isn't a direct reference to religion but an adjacent theme and it's the conversation Nancy and Jonathan have with Murray. They are trying to figure out how to take down Hawkins lab and get people to believe them. Nancy doesn't understand at first why presenting the evidence they have won't work. And Murray says - people don't want to see whats behind the curtain. It's comforting. They like the curtain. - So they water down the story so the town will understand it in a way that they won't resist. This, I believe, is essentially what the writers are doing with this show. They are watering down that this has been a show that is anti-conformity from the beginning and there are signs of it in S1. But they know if they come right out and say that a main storyline is a queer coming-of-age story, a lot of their mainstream audience isn't going to watch. So up until now anyway, they have been subtle about it. But the audience is starting to notice something is off, especially with Mike in S4 because things aren't adding up.

S3 - It is now the summer of '85 and while there aren't direct references to Christianity, we still get some hints of conservatism. The only reference to religion is a passing comment that Dustin's new girlfriend Suzie is a Mormon. There is also a passing comment made by Max in S2 that there were Mormons at the door when Billy questions her. It was Lucas and she is trying to hide him from her racist brother, so she lies and says she was talking to Mormons. These comments are pretty neutral even though Dustin mentions Suzie's father wouldn't approve of him because he isn't Mormon himself. At the time we are seeing this moment, it's hard to tell if Dustin is telling the truth (everyone thinks he's making up his girlfriend this season.) But we see more of this in S4.

And then there is the comment by Karen Wheeler about Margaret Thatcher. She's on the phone with someone and says "I don't know Cath, maybe if I was Margaret Thatcher that'd be an another story." (this is in episode 5 by the way). A lot of people take this comment to mean Karen is conservative but I feel like it's so vague. We have absolutely no idea what the context of this conversation is or even who she is talking to (presumably one of the mothers from the pool). It's unclear if she was saying something positive or negative. We don't know what she is talking about, all we hear is her say Thatcher's name. So I feel like it's a leap to assume it was a conservative statement she was making.

I have a hard time believing that Karen is conservative (or at least not ultra conservative like a lot of Reagan supporters) for a few reasons. One of which is the contempt she has for Ted. She is frequently rolling her eyes at him or annoyed in some way and we know in canon he is the guy who represents conformity. However, Karen doesn't. This season especially she is shown to not be happy with her life. She is supposed to be a conservative housewife, but she almost has an affair and makes a few interesting comments. One of which was during her conversation with Nancy about her job. Nancy is discussing her misogynistic bosses and Karen gives her helpful and supportive advice about not fitting in. It seems personal, and from what we know about her, this sticks out. Because she seems like she is a typical housewife. I always felt like there was more to her backstory, but she seems to relate personally to Nancy's story of being an outcast at her job.

There is also her relationship with Mike. In S1, we see her trying to connect with him emotionally and get him to talk about his feelings about Will going missing. Karen is clearly someone who her kids can talk to, even if they resist sometimes. And her kids don't exactly fit in or represent conformity. She has been shown to be worried about her their safety repeatedly, Mike in particular, and we never see her trying to force them to conform in any way. And this is a thing that someone in her position would have absolutely been teaching her kids - conservative, Christian values. But we don't see anything like this or any hint of this. So I don't buy the 'she's conservative' theory. I don't think we've seen enough evidence of that. And while the Wheelers are probably a family that goes to church on Sundays, I don't get the impression this is a major influence in their lives. There is no religious paraphernalia around the house and this would have been a very common thing for a family that was pro-Reagan to do. I feel like they are passively conservative. It's the popular, normal choice and Karen and Ted are the epitome of doing things because they think they are supposed to. But this hardly makes them die hard believers.

S4 - This is where religion becomes more direct. Eddie is reading a Newsweek article about the dangers of D&D. During this time Satanic Panic was spreading. People feared for the moral values of the US during a time of extreme conservatism. Eddie clearly thinks this article is a joke. He's mocking anyone who conforms and it's clear Dustin and Mike agree. They are outcasts and they know D&D isn't dangerous. Eddie makes them feel like being different is ok.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have Jason. He's your typical straight, white, christian male and fits in perfectly. He's the star of the basketball team and has the perfect cheerleader girlfriend (at least on the surface). He's the opposite of Eddie. And he is the villain in this story. THE GUY WHO CONFORMS PERFECTLY IS THE VILLAIN. He gets progressively more insane as the season progresses. He's charismatic and he quotes the Bible to rile the town up to hunt Eddie and Hellfire club down. They are all in a panic about the murders that are happening and the cops aren't doing a great job containing things (they also don't have all the information to be fair). But by the end of the season, Jason is completely unhinged and holds Lucas up at gunpoint. He's also part of the reason why Max ended up dying. It's Satanic Panic that drives this attitude forward. People are panicking over the loss of morals and blaming that for the reason why bad things are happening. Which I think will make for an interesting lead-in next season with regard to a more openly gay storyline.

On top of this display of religious fundamentalism, we see Suzie and her family. They are Mormons and we know her father is strict with regard to religion. However the family we see is chaotic. Suzie's sister Eden mocks Suzie for basically being a goody two shoes. Eden also has no hesitation about getting high and clearly is not abiding by Mormon values. Suzie doesn't always either. If there is a cause she believes in - like helping Dustin - she only has a little bit of guilt about going against her father and her religion. Her father is pretty much a joke. He's a fumbling idiot the kids need to outsmart in order to get the information they need. It's not exactly a positive representation of religion. Suzie shows that even though her religion is important to her, she is capable of thinking for herself. She hacks Dustins school computer and a government computer (although she doesn't know all the info about what she is doing here) with little hesitation. Her religious morals aren't exactly stopping her from doing something illegal or unethical. She's a hacker above all else.

At the end of the season we see Ted - the dude who represents all things common - reacting negatively to the news about what's going on in Hawkins. The guy who represents conformity is questioning the "propaganda" the news is coming out with to describe the situation in Hawkins. He is questioning the status quo. This is meant to show how even Ted is noticing something isn't adding up about the "normal" explanation of things. Something, at this point, that the audience should be questioning especially with regard to Mike. Because if even Ted can see something is going on here, then surely the audience can too.

The series has gotten progressively more direct about its anti-conformity theme which is why it makes no sense for them to suddenly forget this in S5. This show has always been about and for outcasts. The Wheeler family is a cautionary tale that Nancy said in season 1 was so depressing. She wants the opposite of this, which is why her and Steve and their 6 kids is never going to work (there are a lot of reasons why this is never going to work). And it's also why Mike and El aren't going to be endgame. Those relationships are there to represent conformity and none of the characters in those relationships are happy. They are the expected, normal relationships. If they wanted the audience to like these relationships they would have been written more positively.

So it's funny to me when people say the show is never going to go against the status quo because they have literally been doing this from the start. It's what the entire show is about. All of the characters are outcasts. All of them. So if people are claiming to like and support them, then they need to get behind the anti-conformity theme. And if they can't do that - this show is simply not for those people and it never was.

#byler #anti mileven #mike wheeler #gay mike wheeler #will byers #stranger things #jancy #anti stancy

[cairavende]

Worm Arc 15 thoughts without interludes (interludes need their own post):

EVERYTHING IS FIIIIIIIINE

My daughters boss didn't actually try to assassinate her, her just planned to do it and then did it in one reality but kept the reality where he didn't! So it's ok! I'm fine. Not worried at all that Coil knows Skitter was planning on double crossing him and that he found a way to screw with Tattletales powers.

It's fiiiine (eye twitches)

I want to say I'm glad she got her full team on board, but given that there is a chance someone on her team ratted on her it might not be good.

Skitter goes a little bit far at the end with Triumph. Just a tiny itty bitty bit far. Child you almost KILLED HIM! And then you let him sit there dying when the threat isn't that he'll die now, but that you will come back if needed (mayor ain't going to say what you want him to say if you kill his son, the point is if he doesn't say it you'll come back)! I'm worried about you.

Brian I understand why you like my daughter and she seems to like you and I'm glad having someone you feel safe with is helping you process your very valid trauma (important note, you could have done the same with your sister, she was trying to help you but you wouldn't open up to her, you should open up to her). But please don't get in the way of her relationships with her girlfriends. Just understand in terms of long term stuff Chatterbug and Wolfspider 100% trump . . . Darkbug? Fuck what are you guys called?

(I've been informed Shadeswarm, Nightcrawler, Night Biter, Creepy Crawlies, or Carapace. I think Creepy Crawlies might be my preference among that.)

MOAR DOLL LESBIAN CONTENT!!!!!

Parian is one of my absolute favorite characters! Flechette is pretty cool as well. Being a hero hurts her. Stabbing my daughter also didn't build good marks with me, but I understand why she did it. Cause GAAAAAAAAAAAY. I have a hard time being too mad at a lesbian stabbing someone to protect her girlfriend.

I'm glad Parian isn't joining Coil full hog at least, she's too pure to be a villain (or a "hero"). I kinda wish she could just move to New York and be a fashion designer and live her best life, but I do enjoy the idea of getting to see her more.

And to be honest, I don't think anyone on Earth Bet is really going to be living their best life in the long run. Sorry guys.

The fucking shutdown the team gives to the Nazis is AMAZING! Like ya no Hookwolf or Purity this time, that obviously would have made it harder. But still, comparing the previous fight to this just really shows how much the team has increased in power. They didn't even bring Grue.

Skitter and Tattletale being able to work together to find all the people in a few block radius and figure out which groups are Nazis, all while just standing in the middle of the street, is so fucking cool. I fucking love watching them work.

I don't love the girlfriends fighting with the whole "Skitter wasn't told about the plan to have Regent yoink a Nazi". But they seemed to make up pretty quickly.

Skitter fucking running multiple bug clones, with cameras and microphones, all across her territory, and using them to talk to people and check in on things, WHILE getting surgery on her shoulder??! FUCKING HELL. Like ok yes, please love yourself child and let yourself take it easy sometimes. But also holy shit that is so god damn amazing. I am 100% convinced (I mean, I have been since like Arc 4 TBH) that she uses her bugs to basically offload her pain. Or offloads her mind to her bugs so she can ignore the pain in her body. Same idea. Like even if it's never confirmed it is true to me. And the multitasking! Give Taylor a Thinker classification!!

Just fucking attacking the mayor's family to intimidate him into telling people in Washington to not condemn Brockton Bay huh? I mean sure it kinda worked at the end (assuming he does what he said he would) but it really seems like a terrible plan. Like, the people in Washington are gonna hear about the attack and wonder about everything the mayor says. But fine, that's the plan.

Skitter making the bug clones complex enough that Trickster and Genesis don't even notice she's a clone at first is super cool! Also it does drive home that she is always just covered with so many bugs and using swarm speech so much that when a version of her shows up that is completely covered in bugs and speaks fully with swarm speech it doesn't throw anyone off.

Coil had to know that Triumph was the mayor's kid. The fact that he's the one who pushed to have them attack during family dinner.

I'm really proud of Skitter for figuring it out though! I pegged him as a cape pretty much right away and was able to figure out it was Triumph not long after, but she was in the heat of the moment. Also she got the girlfriend pegged as a either Prism or Ursa while I was still uncertain if she was a cape.

Holy shit that fight was so fucking cinematic! Perfectly built for Triumph to look cool by exploding bug clones with his shouts. And with Prism splitting and combining constantly. Just fuck. I'd love to see an animation of that fight. It was super cool.

And again, Skitter got dark there. And sadly I'm worried she's gonna get darker.

#Worm #Worm Web Serial #Parahumans #Cairavende reads Worm #Taylor Hebert #Chatterbug #Smugbug #Creepy Crawlies #Oh and they did a class presentation on how far they had gotten with their territories #And Skitter just swept the room. If Coil grades on a curve Skitter wrecked it. #Tattletale did pretty good too. Even with the curve she'd be fine. #Grue and Imp did ok. Imp did most of the work but Grue had some valid sick days. #Sundancer and Genesis did fine. #Ballistic lost major points for not knowing the names of the capes in his territory. #Trickster is literally just waiting for his team to come do the work for him. Horrible. #Regent is not doing well given he has Shatterbird. #Bitch gets a good grade on a technicality. Fucking “Nobody.” Project is going to have more strict requirements next time Coil assigns it. #Oh shit wait I don't have a name for Parian/Flechette! #Dollette? Bow and Sew? Needlework? #Hmm I think I like Needlework the most of those three. Dollette isn't bad though. #Needlework

[ckerouac]

Too many books came in at the same time from my library queue, so @redheadgleek suggests a poll and yes, let’s poll! Y’all can see my… varied reading interests lol

What should I read next?

Daughter from the Dark: Late one night, fate brings together DJ Aspirin and ten-year-old Alyona. After he tries to save her from imminent danger, she ends up at his apartment. But in the morning sinister doubts set in. Who is Alyona? A young con artist? A plant for a nefarious blackmailer? Or perhaps a long-lost daughter Aspirin never knew existed? Whoever this mysterious girl is, she now refuses to leave.

The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett: Wanting to organize an assisted death on her own terms, world-weary octogenarian Eudora Honeysett forges an unexpected bond with exuberant ten-year-old Rose, who drags her to tea parties, shopping sprees, and other social excursions.

Flesh and Bone and Water: André is a listless Brazilian teenager and the son of a successful plastic surgeon who lives a life of wealth and privilege, shuttling between the hot sands of Ipanema beach and his family's luxurious penthouse apartment. In 1985, when he is just 16, André's mother is killed in a car accident. Clouded with grief, André's father loses himself in his work while André spends his evenings in the family apartment with Luana, the beautiful daughter of the family's maid. Three decades later, and now a successful surgeon himself, André is a middle-aged father, living in London, and recently separated. One day he receives an unexpected letter from Luana, which begins to reveal the other side of their story, a story André has long repressed.

Geek Love: The Binewskis are a carny family whose mater- and paterfamilias set out-- with the help of amphetamine, arsenic, and radioisotopes-- to breed their own exhibit of human oddities. There is Arturo the Aquaboy, who has flippers for limbs and a megalomaniac ambition worthy of Genghis Khan. Iphy and Elly, the lissome Siamese twins. Albino hunchback Oly. And the outwardly normal Chick, whose mysterious gifts make him the family's most precious-- and dangerous-- asset. As they set out across the U.S., family values will never be the same.

Same Bed Different Dreams: March 1919. Far-flung Korean patriots establish the Korean Provisional Government to protest the Japanese occupation of their country. This government-in-exile proves mostly symbolic, its petitions ignored by heads of state as Korea's nationhood is erased. After Japan's defeat in World War II, the KPG dissolves and civil war erupts, resulting in the North-South split that remains today. But what if the KPG still existed now, today-working toward a unified Korea, secretly harnessing the might of a giant tech company to further its aims?

Unholy: why white evangelicals worship at the altar of Donald Trump: Fueled by an anti-democratic impulse, and united by this narrative of reverse victimization, the religious right and the alt-right support a common agenda--and are actively using the erosion of democratic norms to roll back civil rights advances, stock the judiciary with hard-right judges, defang and deregulate federal agencies, and undermine the credibility of the free press. Increasingly, this formidable bloc is also forging ties with European far right groups, giving momentum to a truly global movement forecasted to last long after the Trump era.

Comemadre: In the outskirts of Buenos Aires in 1907, a doctor becomes involved in a misguided experiment that investigates the threshold between life and death. One hundred years later, a celebrated artist goes to extremes in search of aesthetic transformation, turning himself into an art object.

I Who Have Never Known Men: A young woman is kept in a cage underground with thirty-nine other females, guarded by armed men who never speak; her crimes unremembered... if indeed there were crimes.

Road of Bones: Kolyma Highway, otherwise known as the Road of Bones, is a 1200 mile stretch of Siberian road where winter temperatures can drop as low as sixty degrees below zero. Felix Teigland, or "Teig," is a documentary producer, and when he learns about the Road of Bones, he realizes he's stumbled upon untapped potential. Accompanied by his camera operator, Teig hires a local Yakut guide to take them to Oymyakon, the coldest settlement on Earth. Teig is fascinated by the culture along the Road of Bones, and encounters strange characters on the way to the Oymyakon, but when the team arrives, they find the village mysteriously abandoned apart from a mysterious nine-year-old girl. Then, chaos ensues.

#reading poll #this doesn’t count my audiobooks #but we’re gonna go with murderbot 2 for that

[greatwyrmgold]

I've been thinking about that OnK/Parahumans crossover idea more.

We still know frustratingly little about how Ai's relationship with Hikaru went; we can make some guesses, but nothing concrete. So I thought about the two things that don't depend on Hikaru at all: The timeline and Ai's power.

As mentioned last time, I decided that my ideas for Ai's power centered around Leviathan, who destroyed Kyushu in 1999. I was thinking of having Ai be one of the inaugural Wards, but the Wards definitely existed by 1998, and probably existed by the late 80's/early 90's, so that's...well, I guess I could just ignore some part of the timeline. But I'd rather just make Ai's debut its own big event, wherever she ends up.

OnK's timeline is vague, but if we speedrun through Ai's romance, maybe Ruby and Aqua could be born in 2000 or 2001. Presumably, Ai would get murdered some time in the mid-oughts. More importantly, it means the twins would be tweens when the world ends, so unless I decide to focus on Ai (definitely a possibility), this would be a post-GM fic.

Ai's Trigger Event & Powers

Last time, the power I settled on was "something with power-copying fairy things". And I don't really like that. It's vague, it's complicated, and most importantly, it doesn't have either an "This kid could be the next Eidolon!" vibe or a "This kid could be dangerous!" vibe.

So let's work backwards. What power am I looking for?

I'm thinking, something that takes powers, but can give them back too. Ai takes, say, 8% of your power, and in a week's time she gives you back 10%, keeping 2% for herself. Or some other set of numbers, or some other pattern. She slowly gets stronger over time, she can make other heroes stronger, but she could also just weaken all the heroes around her and run.

As per the Trump document, the kind of Trump trigger that gives power-borrowing powers focuses on the mental/emotional relationship the parahuman has to powers. So while the aftermath of Leviathan's attack is still there, still influences her trigger, it's not the focus.

Let's say that Ayumi (Ai's mom) and/or her unnamed boyfriend worked for the Sentai Elite or some other hero team. Little Ai hence got to see more superheroes than most people, and became familiar with one hero in specific. Let's call her Blue Kōri (following Black Kaze's naming scheme even though we don't know whether she's an ex-Sentai or not, but c'mon, that's a Super Sentai name).

Anyways, Ayumi gets stranded somewhere with her daughter and boyfriend due to Leviathan's floodwaters. She spots Blue Kōri coming by, making a bridge of ice across the waters, and quickly sends Ai into their improvised shelter to get stuff. While she's out of sight, Ayumi and her boyfriend leave with Kōri, without Ai.

Ai feels a sense of betrayal and abandonment, mostly from her mom but also the other two adults, at least one of whom should have known better. As with her canon counterpart, Ai feels certain that the things done to her were done because she's unlovable. So she triggers, grabbing a fragment of Blue Kōri's power without realizing what she's done. (And without Kōri noticing, because she's distracted by a swell or something.)

Post-Trigger

Ai ends up with the power to take a fragment of other parahumans' powers, which manifest in the form of little glowing things that Ai calls fairies. The fragments grow slowly on their own, eventually splitting. (Conflicted about whether they should just grow or whether they should mutate slightly when they split. Does Ai have remarkable power, or remarkable versatility? Doesn't really matter at this point in planning, though.)

Eventually, Ai figures out that she has a little bit of ice power. Once she figures out how to use it, she tries to escape on a teeny ice raft with the supplies Ayumi told her to fetch. Ai eventually washes up in a populated area, and gets noticed by Ichigo or an equivalent. She gets inducted into a hero team (foreign if we want to use recognizable canon characters, local if we don't), and settles into the "ideal superhero" role by a combination of external Concern about an unfettered power-thief and internal fears of being hated or abandoned or unworthy of love.

And I'm not sure how much more I can write without a bit more data on Hikaru.

#oshi no ko #parahumans #crossover

[coraniaid]

Top 5 parents? (in Buffy and/or Angel)

(Top 5 anything.)

Hmm.  I'm not sure there are as many as five unambiguously good parents in Buffy.  But, uh, let's see.

5) Joyce Summers [from Season 1's Welcome To The Hellmouth until ... well, you know.]

Cons: Famously doesn't react well to finding out that her only daughter is metaphorically bisexual.

Pros: Reacts a lot better to finding out her other daughter is metaphorically adopted.  Did lie to the police for Buffy at least once, and used an ax to protect her from a vampire.  Brought Buffy a nice dress to fight the Master in, and later bonded over a mutual dislike of Principal Snyder.

I've said before -- and will continue to say -- that I think Joyce is treated very unfairly by the fandom (particularly compared to how the fandom talks about Giles, who you'll note is not on this list for any number of reasons).  That said, while I think the show is actually very consistent about the fact that Buffy loves her mother and wants her mother's approval (it's not an inconsistency just because you personally don't like Joyce!), it's pretty inarguable that Joyce does and says a number of terrible things.  Which if she were a real person would matter a lot more than it actually does.

Ultimately, I think Joyce Summers tried to march in the Slayer Pride parade but did a pretty lousy job of it. Even when she wasn't being possessed or magically mind-controlled by a demon or a warlock or an evil robot (which … happens a lot, doesn’t it?).  The fact she's on this list at all is more of an indictment of the other options than it is an endorsement of her as a parent.

(Obviously I'm ignoring the big Normal Again retcon here, which I just don't think makes sense with what we see of Buffy and Joyce in the first five seasons of the show.  But yeah, if I accepted that as canon obviously Joyce wouldn't be anywhere near the list, even by Sunnydale's abysmally low standards.)

4) Amy Madison's dad [from Season 1's Witch]

Cons: Left his pre-teen daughter to be raised by a abusive mother who would go on to learn witchcraft and steal her daughter's body using evil magic. Never actually appeared on screen in the show.  Or given a name.

Pros: Don't think he knew about the witch part.  Definitely guilty about the whole thing afterwards anyway.  Amy seems pretty happy that he's back in her life at the end of the episode. Not involved in the whole witch-burning thing in Gingerbread, for some reason (well, okay, it’s because nobody bothered to cast an actor to play him or even remembered that Amy had a father, I guess).

A deleted scene from Season 6 suggests Amy's dad goes back to being a terrible parent later on, and even ignoring that he is kind of conspicuous by his absence after this one episode.  Letting your teenage daughter eat brownies whenever she wants: good parenting!  Letting your teenage daughter visit magical crack dens whenever she wants: significantly less good parenting!

3) Oz's Aunt Maureen [from Season 2's Phases]

Cons: Literally only exists on the show for a single five second phone call where we don't hear her or see her on screen.

Pros: Seems pretty relaxed about the fact that her son is a werewolf (that's not a pro for Oz, sure, but hey, we're not ranking how good an aunt she is).  Trumps Amy's dad by virtue of having a name.

I hope things worked out okay for little Jordy and the many, many werewolves he unwittingly sired by biting people when he was a kid.

2) Buffy Summers [from Season 5's Forever onwards] 

Look, she's Dawn legal guardian, so she counts.

Cons: Not as good with Dawn's social worker as a literal sex robot was. Tried to kill Dawn one time when she was possessed (... hey, I guess at least Joyce would be proud?).  Managed to miss the fact Dawn was skipping school … and dating a vampire … and stealing from the magic shop.  (She had a difficult year, okay?)

Pros: Made up for the social worker stuff by ... uh, turning invisible and ruining said social worker's life.  Literally died to protect Dawn from being murdered by a god in Season 5. Then worked incredibly hard for two years to protect Dawn from an even more terrible fate (having to go back to LA to live with Hank Summers).  

For somebody who was terrified by the thought of becoming her mother (whether played for laughs as in Season 2's Bad Eggs, or for real in Season 5), I think Buffy does a pretty good job with Dawn.

1) Nikki Wood [first seen in Season 5's Fool For Love flashbacks]

Cons: None.

Pros: She's perfect.

Lies My Parents Told Me can fuck right off.

#btvs #ask games #thanks!

[faintingheroine]

If u don't answer those 20 questions.

Okay I am answering after a long while

Questions:

(Link)

My answers for Magnificent Century:

1. I don’t remember. I thought throughout Season 1 that I would hate Nibrahim but when it finally started happening I fell in love. Maybe it was the taking-Leo’s-letter scene from Episode 23.

2. 1) Nigar:

2) Ibrahim:

Complex. Unintentionally funny. Always fun to analyze. Plus I find him sexy.

3) Hürrem:

One of the most brilliant characters ever in any Turkish show. Never has a boring scene. Always human and complex and brilliantly written.

3. Erase the scene in Episode 57 with Ibrahim monologuing about how he actually loves Hatice and is only with Nigar because he is angry at Hatice and how his relationship with Nigar is “a sea of lies” yada yada. Erase it!

4. 1) One gif showcasing Nibrahim (gif by @serraseastar )

2) One gif showcasing Hürrem and Ibrahim’s banter:

3) Hürrem’s victory (gif by @hurremhasckis )

5. Ibrahim taking Leo’s letter from Nigar at the end of Episode 23 (also see the first question).

6. My current underrated fave is Sokollu and Selim’s relationship. AllyOTP.

7. I am not likely to follow them at all. Not making the same mistake again.

8. “Don’t forget this face Ibrahim. Don’t forget these almond-shaped eyes, this shapely nose, these silken hands. She is yours, she is of your blood. She only belongs to you. She is not the daughter of the Ottoman dynasty, nor the daughter of the Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha, but the daughter of the son of the fisherman Manolis, the convert from Parga Theodoris. Look after her Ibrahim, protect her even in exchange of your life. Because she is the only thing that belongs to you in this wide world. She is your fate Ibrahim”.

9. I would like to see more of Şah and Nigar’s relationship.

10. A lot. A lot.

11. All three mains in the first three seasons (Süleyman, Hürrem, Ibrahim) are great and complex and deserve their status as the mains. Mustafa, not so much.

12. All the fun segments I watched on YouTube of women scheming against each other.

13. Hatice/Ibrahim of course.

14. Something between fix-its and pining fics for my OTP.

15. Eh, almost everyone dies in the canon anyway so no one.

16. I think I could have rage-quitted if Yılmaz Şahin wrote Esmanur too dying.

17. It is a historical show but I really admire them for ignoring history and just making men and women freely interact. Good storytelling trumped historical accuracy in this case.

18. I think four seasons was right for this show. Now, the show didn’t always spend that time in the right way, especially in early Season 2, but the amount of time was right even if the way it was used wasn’t.

19. I can’t think of anything in particular right now but I like the commentary on the female characters in the second episode of the documentary series.

20. As you can see from my blog, it nearly possessed me and ruined my life.

#magnificent century #muhteşem yüzyıl #20 fandom questions #nigar x ibrahim

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Chris Britt, Florida Politics

* * * *

President Biden meets with Yulia and Dasha Navalnaya.

As Trump and the GOP twisted themselves into knots to avoid admitting that Putin assassinated Alexei Navalny, President Biden met with Navalny’s widow—Yulia Navalnaya—and his daughter, Dasha Navalnaya. It is worth pausing here to acknowledge that Biden has proven himself to be a compassionate and empathetic person capable of understanding the suffering of others.

Those qualities are strikingly absent from Trump's warped personality—and from his MAGA supporters, who take their cue from Trump in all things. America deserves and needs a president capable of understanding the suffering of others.

After meeting with Yulia and Dasha Navalnaya, Biden said

Today, I met with Yulia and Dasha Navalnaya – Aleksey Navalny's loved ones – to express my condolences for their devastating loss. Aleksey's legacy of courage will live on in Yulia and Dasha, and the countless people across Russia fighting for democracy and human rights.

Biden later said,

This morning I had the honor of meeting with Alexey Navalny's wife and daughter. As to state the obvious, he was a man of incredible courage. And it's amazing how his wife and daughter are emulating that.

Meanwhile, Trump maintains his silence on the assassination of Navalny and his minions dodge questions about Putin’s responsibility by saying they “Don’t know enough to answer.” Hmm . . . these are the same people who raged endlessly against Biden based on an unverified, quadruple-hearsay document from a confidential informant who was not believed by his FBI handlers.

The embrace of Putin by the Republican Party is troubling because of the implications for the defense of Ukraine and the integrity of the 2024 election. We have already seen one attempt by Russia to interfere on behalf of Trump, and we are witnessing the real-time betrayal of Ukraine on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, Republicans are trying to pretend as though Alexander Smirnov never happened. Read on!

House Oversight Committee removes references to FBI informant under cover of night

Speaking of the now-discredited FBI informant, his GOP champions in the House initially responded to his indictment for lying by claiming that his information was only a portion of the evidence they had against Joe Biden.

But actions speak actions louder than words. On Thursday, the House Oversight Committee quietly removed all references to Alexander Smirnov’s statements from the Oversight Committee’s website. See Meidas Touch Network, House GOP Quietly Deletes Russian Disinformation from Impeachment Website.

It is not enough for the House impeachment caucus to surreptitiously remove references to a Russian plant from its list of evidence against Joe Biden. Republicans should acknowledge their error and apologize—but they will not. The US media, however, should be a different story. They amplified and promoted the Russian lies about Biden—and are having a difficult time admitting their error.

As Josh Marshall wrote in his editor’s blog in Talking Points Memo,

The story here isn’t that the “Biden Crime Family” nonsense didn’t pan out. That was always transparently bogus. The story here is how the U.S. again got bamboozled by transparent foreign manipulation and how the U.S. political press bought into it pretty much whole hog. That doesn’t mean they accepted all the claims. But they treated it as reasonable, worthy of a presumption of seriousness, a serious story to be covered as such. Even with the veritable forest of red flags.

Donald Trump and his MAGA legions have spent years shock-training reporters not to bring up anything else about Russian disinformation programs aimed at helping Donald Trump. But they’re real. They’re continuing. They’re actually working. . . . Reporters have been conditioned to ignore the clear implications of what we’re learning.

So, the House Oversight Committee can try to slink away under dark of night to conceal the obvious effort by Russia to interfere in the 2024 election . . . but the media should not allow Trump to do so. As Marshall writes, Russia’s efforts to interfere are “real, continuing, and working.”

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

#Biden Administration #Robert B. Hubbell #Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter #U.S.Political press #House Oversight committee #GOP House Putin Caucus #GOP Maga extremists #Putin #Russia #collusion #Putin's misinformation campaign

[fullscoreshenanigans]

Norman ratri fuckery or maybe Norman in lambda scenario if im understanding this right!

For an AU with greater canon divergence, I like tinkering with the idea of Peter being more hands on in interacting with Norman to better contrast with Emma and Ray getting Lucas and Yuugo for father figures.

22194 has been a child of interest since he scored a perfect 300 on his first test at age four. Potentially even earlier than that, if, like Ray, the demons kept track of his pedigree and his mother was also a full scorer. Regardless of exactly when it started, he continues to capture the attention of researchers and the demon nobility alike, so by the time Legravalima gives approval for him to be sent to Lambda so she can avoid handing him over to the demon god, Peter was already aware of his general existence.

He's thrown for a loop when he meets him in person though. The only potential photographs he would have of Norman would be from when he was an infant at headquarters. His incredibly light/white hair on its own wouldn't have been enough to give him much pause, but now that his features have had more time to develop, Peter's a bit startled at the Ratri ones he can pick out.

(@bon-nii's comparison of James and Norman from chapters 173, 152, 126, and 154)

(Chapter 74)

There's a bit of vanity in him saying he's too young to be Norman's father (never mind he was eighteen when Norman was born), but combined with the boy's looks, the phrase sits at the back of his mind, nudging him until he can't ignore his curiosity any longer. He looks into the genealogy records at Grace Field headquarters until he can't find any recording of a sperm donor, which isn't more than a few generations back. Odd, given that Grace Field is the top premium farm, but sometimes such documentation snuck through the cracks, and it wasn't unheard of for the occasional scientist to consort with the Sister candidates prior to the refinement of artificial insemination.

It's one of Norman's blood samples that confirms someone from the family—either from the main one or the branch Andrew's from—fathered a daughter with a Sister, and that daughter went on to have a daughter who then bore a son.

Pulling this bit from an earlier post:

…I still have trouble wrapping my head around the idea of Peter knowingly and willingly [putting a Ratri child in the farm system] on the basis of viewing them as an extension of the clan rather than as individuals, so it’s almost like it’s a worse reflection on him not being able to restore the honor of this wayward branch of it by “salvaging” the traitor’s children and raising them “correctly.” He places such great value in being a Ratri and displays such disdain when speaking of the cattle children as food, it’s hard to see him sullying the line in any way by condemning a member to the fate of the latter as opposed to just outright killing them, even if said member was an infant. That’s still Ratri blood—his blood—that would be going into the farm system, and he would never let anyone as lowly as food have any sort of claim to such a noble and prestigious status. […] However, I’m more inclined to entertain the idea of another family member taking advantage of their position as a Ratri to have a dalliance with a Sister candidate, as @officersnickers brings up in this post. It’s not something Peter would ever approve of, but what’s done is done, and importantly there was no explicit denouncement of the clan in this act, which I feel he would take personal offense to. There’s nothing he can do to save these children—the one-drop rule thoroughly entrenched in his mind, and their blood is thoroughly tainted—but maybe their Ratri lineage will win out and they’ll be able to rise above their pitiful status, so he does keep tabs on both as he approves of them being sent on their separate ways in the system.

This is where one has to make the concession that Peter cares more about having an heir and/or believing a child's Ratri heritage trumps their fate of being born into the farm system. Shirai never confirms if he has a partner, but regardless, no mention is made of biological children of his own or if he knows of any potential ones on the way.

And maybe that's getting to him as the thirty-sixth head of the Ratri clan who's going to turn thirty next year, along with this boy looking so much like James. He knew his brother had no children, and despite his traitorous ways knew he'd never father one with a Sister for a variety of reasons. Yet here is this distant relative whose genes were still so prominent even after being diluted with multiple generations of cattle blood (him being vain enough to include Norman's intelligence as being another gift of Ratri inheritance). He decides to take it as a sign and as a duty to reclaim and "salvage" this wayward line of the clan.

Norman knows something's off when he doesn't receive all of the drugs he normally does for the day. Everything else proceeds as routine until dinner, when he's escorted not by scientists or demons, but men dressed in suits to an area of Lambda he's never been to before. They arrive in a lavishly decorated room with Peter seated at a relatively small but well-furnished dinner table. Norman's never seen so much food meant for one person, but as Peter invites him to have a seat, he realizes it's meant for two people.

There's some small talk regarding the spread, Peter's recommendations and whether Norman's favorite dish is there. By sheer coincidence there is some chickpeas and meat stew present, and while Norman is still wary of the entire situation, he doesn't refuse the bowl placed in front of him by the butler. It's the most delicious thing he's ever tasted. Peter makes sure to clarify one of his personal chefs made it.

This segues into a brief discussion about the daily tests Norman's been taking at Lambda. He confirms they're harder than the tests at Grace Field, but he enjoys the challenge, the tiniest bit of smug pride seeping in in the event Peter had any ego tied up in his being bested by one of these tests. The proud tone in the response throws him off before his brain registers the words "as to be expected of a Ratri." Peter then apologizes at the small but still noticeable change in his expression, lamenting how he probably should have started out with that to ease any of Norman's worries.

He goes on to explain how he discovered this, interpreting Norman's silence as positive before moving on to provide a brief overview of how the Ratri clan came to be the mediators between two worlds and then explaining how his life will change now that he'll be staying in the Ratri visitors' quarters for the remainder of his time at Lambda. The process to remove his tattoo and brand will begin the following day, and he'll be weened off the remaining drugs he's been given.

Norman knows it's beyond his consideration, but he still can't believe the gall of this man.

As for what [being a Ratri] would mean to Norman, he’s never indicated any sense of loss related to not knowing members of his immediate birth family or fretting over his origins, but for him to be related to the clan that’s perpetuated this system of abuse over a millennia and with how his rigid sense of morality lent itself to the idea of exterminating every single demon, if he was in a particularly negative thought spiral, it might eat at him on some bad days.

Where Peter expected rapturous or reverential awe at being a long-lost member of the clan, he felt sick. He never knew his birth mother or other forebearers, but imagining everything those women had to endure after seeing what it turned Isabella into, all being said so casually without a hint of guilt over the horrors his clan perpetuated like he's discussing the pedigree of a thoroughbred animal instead of a human being, it's nauseating.

And his neck tattoo…the Lambda brand he wouldn't give a second thought to losing, but the tattoo has this paradoxical sense of kinship attached to it that I briefly go over in this post regarding the children still keeping their tattoos years after being in the human world. Even with it being a horrible symbol of their dehumanization under this system, it's been a familiar sight to him since his earliest memories. It's one of the physical markers of his connection with Emma, Ray, and the rest of his family, and this man will be flippantly erasing that. How easy it is for him having never bore the grief that comes with it.

This is already long but a tangentially related conversation to this eventually comes up with Peter asking about Emma and Ray. On the surface it's to connect with Norman and learn more about his life at Grace Field, but the ulterior motive is to see if there's any information he can glean about these kids to find and capture them quicker. Norman will give it to him for having the tact not to slip and refer to them by their numbers like he's sure he wants to do, but he's still incensed at their names in his mouth. There's also the chance that Peter might reveal a crumb of information himself about their status (because Norman can't see why he would be asking unless he had something to gain from it, so that has to mean their escape was a success and they were all alive. The alternative would kill him), so he entertains the conversation. He tries not to give any tells, but when he talks about them his thumb might have grazed the spot where his number used to be before covering it up with a cough.

Norman's never taken in by Peter's seemingly genial demeanor, but it's odd how personal and almost…amiable the man can be with him. Still, the love he's offering is contingent on Norman's continued assistance at Lambda (Peter sees it as their shared duty to solve the conundrum of faster high quality meat production) and at least the appearance of respect toward the clan. It's not unconditional like Lucas' and Yuugo's.

The clearest hint of this might be Peter mentioning how much Norman resembles James one night at dinner, building his brother up with the same admiration he displays in chapter 173 before lamenting his fall from grace, stressing the sacrifice he had to make by murdering him but still ultimately going through with it because the clan and balance between two worlds takes precedence above all else.

Alternatively, another scenario that's easier to work into canon is the Ratri clan realizing Norman's lineage when the cattle children arrive in the human world, also prompted by the databases at Grace Field sparking further investigation with a DNA test. Once it's confirmed, they keep pestering Norman about leaning into this kinship and actively working for them, along with having his family and friends seemingly on good terms with the clan for some PR optics. Norman finds the idea insulting and revolting, but he can't ignore the benefits that would come with it.

Like some other fans, I greatly dislike Norman becoming a CEO during the final major timeskip, as well as Lambda sickness being conveniently treated with no chronic aftereffects and absolutely no issues with them integrating into human world and being welcomed with open arms by everyone. I understand Shirai wanted to wrap up the series on his own terms after years of dealing with the strain that is weekly manga publishing, and he needed an explanation for how the kids could easily fund their expeditions to search for Emma, but oof, do I hate it lol. All of these remain a concern for the cattle children here, and while the Ratri clan wouldn't outright abandon them if he refused, Norman wouldn't put it past them to drag their feet on certain matters. Their finances and prestige shield them from any misguided resentment some people may hold for them. Their connections are a boon for securing future educations and careers. And god would it expedite the search for Emma.

I like to imagine a late night benefit-cost analysis between Norman, Ray, Don, and Gilda taking place at some point after they've settled in enough. The other three reaffirm that if Norman felt it was going to kill his soul to work for the Ratris, his friends and family would stand by his refusal, but they would be remiss not to acknowledge the pragmatism in further solidifying the relationship (particularly poignant coming from Ray, though not completely analogous situations). The conversation drifts off for a bit before Norman, looking exhaustedly across the table they're seated at with his hands on his knees, states, "I want her back with us."

Working with the clan would be odd in so many ways with how they would laud his status as a cattle child and how he was taking the lead on amending relations between the Ratri and the cattle children while never wanting to fully interrogate what that meant. There's a hierarchy with Norman at the top and the mass production farm children at the bottom in many of their minds. At one point in private after a publicity event someone says offhand, "you can cover that up now, you know," referring to his ID. Even in the winter he tries to make a point not to wear scarves or turtlenecks when he knows he's going to be around them.

I hate the idea of there being one good and upstanding Ratri member that befriends him just because it's too convenient, and if we're being real Norman would never let down his walls enough and let them into his personal world after everything he's been through, but I do like the thought of him maybe getting along with a few scattered members, probably younger, who recognize the terrible fate that befell the children from another world and are genuinely amiable with him without beholding him to form a meaningful friendship with them. A small attempt at a personal level of atonement that he can recognize and appreciate while still maintaining that mental distance. I also think he'd appreciate the very youngest children of the family who could give him insight into what the adults might really think of him and his friends with their uncensored commentary lol.

#the-music-note-system6 #The Promised Neverland #Yakusoku no Neverland #TPN #TPN AU #YnN #TPN Fanfic #TPN Norman #YnN Norman #Norman #Norman Ratri #Peter Ratri #Ratri Clan #FSS Chatter #FSS Asks #Search for Minerva Arc #TPN 074 #Human World Arc #TPN 179 #Long Post #Read More #anyone know of any fanfics like this or where Peter just interacts more with Norman in general hmu #the occasional odd AU of him being Norman's dad or more typically his bastard uncle? delicious #he's never going to prioritize this kid over the honor of his clan as a whole #but i do like him entertaining the idea of some familial relationship for funsies and the optics #and Norman having to balance his hatred with playing along and hey he gets some info along the way #including how to deal with Peter because he will eventually break free of him #also it might seem counterintuitive to kill Emma and Ray if he wants to engender love for him in Norman #but the sentiments are Norman would have eventually outgrown them anyway so it's fine and he'll get over it lol #Norman at being offered Lambda brand removal two months into his stay there: well why tf did i have to get it in the first place then

[newtonsheffield]

Okay but when midwife Anthony and obgyn Kate officially get together I can just imagine Anthony coming into work wayyyyyyy too cheerful with the fattest grin and whistling as he walks, literally hugging and high-fiving everyone he passes, including a confused janitor and a soon to be new mother whose water just broke. Kates just like ugh what a dumbass... still gonna let him bend me over later tho 🤭

Oh 100%

The day he finds Kate waiting beside her car for him to tell her he loves her again, he can hardly breathe when she smiles, presses her lips against his and whispers

"I love you too."

He can't stop himself from darting forward their lips crashing together as he pins her against the side of her car.

"Anthony, Kate, very platonic and chill this morning I see." Edwina sighs dryly, marching past them with a slightly disgusted smile on her face.

And his heart is pounding in his chest. "We're in love actually! Very not platonic! Very much romantic! Very much in love!"

"Good job buddy!" She calls back, with a slightly sarcastic thumbs up shaking her head bemusedly with a look at her sister that says we'll be talking about this later

Anthony spins back to Kate trying not to sigh happily as he presses his nose against her neck. "So, I'm thinking... You and I call in sick, I just got this new box of condoms, and we see if we can get through all of them today."

Kate chuckles, seemingly despite herself, brushing their lips together, "Mmm as lovely as that sounds, I have life to bring into this world today. And also potentially life improving endometriosis surgery, and as good a shag as you are: I can't tell the patient that's why it needs to be rescheduled."

Anthony sighed, "It's like... it's really fucking hot how good you are a your job you know that right?"

"I don't-"

"Anthony, hands off my baby in public." Mary clipped, a small smile on her face as she walks past and still, it can't foul Anthony's mood as Kate tugs him along to follow.

"Mary, would it help if I told you that Kate started it because she's desperately in love with me?"

Kate scoffed, but he noticed she didn't contradict him. Even as Mary sighed.

"No."

"But I'm Anthony! I'm Little Pup!"

"Daughter trumps Pup I'm sorry, Anthony. My maternity ward is going to be a handsy free zone."

And he's so happy he's not thinking, "If only you knew how many times I've already been handsy-"

Kate let out a squeak, darting forward to cut him off with a kiss an apologetic look cast her mother's way, and Anthony can't really bring himself to care as he gets ready for the day, slipping into his scrubs, breezing into his patients room.

"Jacqui! Mark! How are we feeling today?"

The soon to be parents looked back at him a little bemusedly.

"Is this not the most beautiful day to become a family?! What a day for love to triumph!"

"Had a spot of good luck, mate?" Mark asks slowly as Anthony checks the chart.

"You could say that, Mark. You could say that." He hums, "Perfect! So everything's looking good, the love of my life will be in to round on your with her little ducklings in a mo' so we'll just wait on that."

"Sorry, and the love of your life is...?" Jacqui trails off confusedly.

"I think he's talking about me." Kate's voice sighs from the doorway, ignoring the way the junior doctors following her are snickering.

Anthony felt himself nod, grinning a little ridiculously as Kate went about her rounds, questioning lightly before she turned to the bed and said, "Jacqui, I'm going to leave you in Anthony's very capable hands and he'll let me know how things are progressing. I assure you, he's really very good, but I warn you, apparently I have to say that: Rumour has it he's the love of my life."

Anthony can barely breathe as she winks at him before swanning from the room, taking a gasp as the door closes behind her. "Oh my god, Oh my god did you guys see that?! Holy God." And then he cuts himself off realising the patients staring back at him with abject confusion before he straightens, clearing his throat. "Right. God, sorry. Kate is a very talented doctor and she's beautiful, and incredible and I've just- really been in love with her for a long time and we finally got there, and I'm really happy today. Great day to make a family."

He gives them an awkward thumbs up as he leaves the room and just as he closes the door he hears Jacqui burst into tears followed by " You never talk about me like that!"

#all i am (all that i ever was) #kathony #anthony x kate #kate sharma #kate sheffield #anthony bridgerton #molly’s asks and answers

[mariacallous]

WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH

Hear that? It’s the sound of some very upset nepo babies. A “nepo baby”, for those wondering what I’m talking about, is online slang for a celebrity who comes from a famous family. Which, by the way, seems to be every other person in the entertainment industry. The phrase, which isn’t necessarily an insult, has become popular, and some nepo babies are starting to feel somewhat attacked by the term. In the last few weeks a number of celebrity offspring, including Madonna’s eldest daughter and Zoe Kravitz, have given interviews where they’ve claimed that they haven’t reallllllly benefited from having famous parents but, even if they had, that’s fine because there is nepotism in every industry.

While all the nepo baby interviews have been getting attention, Lily-Rose Depp has been raising the most eyebrows. In a recent interview with Elle magazine, Depp (an actor and the daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis) insisted that talent trumps connections. “People are going to have preconceived ideas about you or how you got there, and I can definitely say that nothing is going to get you the part except for being right for the part,” Depp said.

I can definitely say that is complete nonsense. It doesn’t detract from Depp’s talent to acknowledge the fact that connections and privilege often play a huge part in success. As the saying goes: talent is equally distributed, opportunity is not. When you pretend otherwise, when you pretend that we live in a pure meritocracy, you’re not just saying that you deserve your success, you’re saying that less successful people didn’t work hard enough or weren’t talented enough. You’re ignoring all the structural and systemic issues that allow some people to play life on ‘easy’ mode.

Depp didn’t just suggest that nepotism played no part in her success, she also – rather bizarrely – argued that the term nepo baby is sexist. “I just hear it a lot more about women, and I don’t think that it’s a coincidence,” she said.

I’m not sure about that. I haven’t done detailed data analysis of gender-based applications of the term, but I can think of plenty of men who have been called a nepo baby, Brooklyn Beckham and Jaden Smith being two very high-profile examples. If we’re going to get all nerdy about nepo baby history, it’s also worth noting that the phrase gained popularity after Gen Z discovered Euphoria showrunner Sam Levinson was the son of Rain Man director Barry Levinson. And, of course, there’s the fact that the word nepotism comes from the word “nephew” and originally described the practice of priests giving cushy positions in the church to their nephews. Lots and lots of things in life are sexist; the phrase “nepo baby”, let us be clear, is not one of them.

"Lots of things in life are sexist – but the phrase ‘nepo baby’ isn’t one of them" - Arwa Mahdawi

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Donald Trump and his adult children were sued for "numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation" on Wednesday by New York state's attorney general in a civil investigation into the former U.S. president's business practices, court records showed.

The lawsuit, filed in a New York state court in Manhattan, accused the Trump Organization of wrongdoing in preparing Trump's annual statements of financial condition from 2011 to 2021. It also named the Trump Organization, the former president's son Donald Trump Jr. and his daughter Ivanka Trump as defendants.

Attorney General Letitia James said Trump and the Trump Organization misstated the values of its real estate properties to obtain favorable loans and tax benefits. She said she was referring allegations of criminal wrongdoing to federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the Internal Revenue Service.

"With the help of his children and senior executives at the Trump Organization, Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and cheat the system," James said in a statement.

The lawsuit marks one of the biggest legal blows for Trump since he left office in January 2021. Trump is considering running again for president in 2024.

James told reporters she is seeking to have the defendants give up all the benefits he obtained from fraud, estimated at $250 million. The lawsuit also seeks to bar Trump and his children from running companies in New York, and to bar the Trump Organization from engaging in real estate transactions. James has been conducting a civil investigation into Trump's business practices for more than three years.

The Republican former President has denied any wrongdoing and described James' probe as a politically motivated witch hunt. James is a Democrat. The Trump Organization has called James' allegations "baseless."

Wednesday's lawsuit followed a contentious investigation in which James accused Trump, his company and some family members of using delay tactics to ignore subpoenas and avoid testifying.

Trump on Aug. 10 declined to answer questions in a lengthy, closed-door deposition at the office of the attorney general, invoking his constitutional right against self-incrimination more than 400 times.

Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump agreed to sit for depositions only after court decisions required it. read more

Another of Trump's children, Eric Trump, invoked the right against self-incrimination more than 500 times in a 2020 deposition.

Trump has been beset with legal troubles since leaving the White House.

The FBI conducted a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Aug. 8 as part of a criminal investigation into his handling of presidential records including classified material.

Trump also faces a criminal investigation in Georgia over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

He has denied wrongdoing in the various probes.

James' civil probe is separate from a criminal tax fraud probe against the Trump Organization by Manhattan's district attorney, Alvin Bragg.

The company is scheduled to stand trial in October, accused of paying off-the-books benefits to employees. Its former longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, has pleaded guilty and will testify against the company.

James is assisting Bragg in his criminal probe.

#us politics #news #reuters #donald trump #trump organization #trump organization scandal #donald trump jr. #eric trump #ivanka trump #letitia james #ag letitia james #new york #Alvin Bragg #georgia #georgia election investigation #election interference #2022 #indictments #fraud